DC's New 52: Reviews and Discussion (Spoilers welcolme and likely)

I still suspect Damian is back by the end of Batman, Inc., but I admit it doesn't look good. Dan Slott over at the Gear-Grinding Spider-man could take a few lessons here about how to play fair with the reader while simultaneously crushing their spirit. Morrison's whole Bat-run has been great, but Batman Inc is pure epic (with more than a nod to Tomasi and Cornell, who both produced some of the great Dick/Damian stories that cemented their bond, played on so well here.)

Comparing what Morrison has done with Damian and what Slott has done with Peter are two entirely different things. Peter Parker is still alive albeit not physically , and as I've mentioned in the Marvel thread many times now, Superior Spider-Man is part of a larger still ongoing story line that has been unfolding since Slott took over Amazing full time. Morrison is concluding his run and concluding a character arc that he created and started himself. I don't think the two are comparable at all, nor does Slott need to "take lessons". Besides which everyone knows that Peter will be back in his body at some point...we don't know that with Damian right now.

A year from now Superman and Diana have sex for the first time, Superman experiences his first, full-fledged, orgasm with the only woman on the planet he can do that with (who is also not his cousin.) As expected Superman's orgasmic powers is so intense it fractures space, time, and logic causing Diana to eventually give birth to a resurrected Damian who rapidly ages to a young adult and then he ages normally. The new, older Damien sets on the world as a new superhero.

I still suspect Damian is back by the end of Batman, Inc., but I admit it doesn't look good.

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I claim no ownership of this theory. Someone posted it at Bleeding Cool a few weeks ago, and after I read it, I went, "Yeah, that's a very Morrisonian thing to do."

Bruce goes through literal Hell to retrieve Damian's soul and has to tangle with Dr. Hurt one last time. He recovers Damian's soul, but there's a catch. Damian comes back, but as the computer soul of Robin the Toy Wonder of the 853rd-century (DC One Million). Ultimately, Damian gets to be Robin forever, albeit in the far, far future.

That would be really interesting. I dunno if we're going to see Hurt again, but I wouldn't be surprised if Talia put Bruce some kind of battle for Damian's soul. The grand finale just got really interesting. Morrison has just kept building and building the anticipation and escalation throughout the second volume.

A year from now Superman and Diana have sex for the first time, Superman experiences his first, full-fledged, orgasm with the only woman on the planet he can do that with (who is also not his cousin.) As expected Superman's orgasmic powers is so intense it fractures space, time, and logic causing Diana to eventually give birth to a resurrected Damian who rapidly ages to a young adult and then he ages normally. The new, older Damien sets on the world as a new superhero.

I know that DC's getting a lot of hate for it this week -- since it spoils the ending of Batman Inc #8 -- but I actually like it this week because, when read after the closing pages of BI #8, it works as a breaking news report on what we just read. It feels honest to me.

I get why they're doing it, touching upon major plot points that are going on in the major books. I don't like the art for it though, and just think it's a little lame. Maybe it will improve over time.

But it's the "first time" it's been "useful." Or used in some "proper" context. Since they started doing it it's been lame and this time around in spoiled the end of an issue. Say someone pulled their books this past week -somehow not knowing what was going to happen- and they read one of the other issues first. They'd potentially be spoiled by this "Channel 52" news bit.

But, again, it's lame. It's maybe a bit too "meta", it's using up pages and is anyone really reading it? Further, I'm not fond of the Constatine preview in all of this week's books either. Again, it just uses up space and it's a bit annoying to find it at the end of of every single DC book I pulled this week.

Comparing what Morrison has done with Damian and what Slott has done with Peter are two entirely different things. Peter Parker is still alive albeit not physically , and as I've mentioned in the Marvel thread many times now, Superior Spider-Man is part of a larger still ongoing story line that has been unfolding since Slott took over Amazing full time. Morrison is concluding his run and concluding a character arc that he created and started himself. I don't think the two are comparable at all, nor does Slott need to "take lessons". Besides which everyone knows that Peter will be back in his body at some point...we don't know that with Damian right now.

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I agree, but for reasons we will completely disagree about: Morrison/Damian is different than Slott/Peter, but I don't buy for a second that Slott's been building to this since his debut on ASM. There are too many clues that they are testing ideas and dropping them if the blowback is too great (which I have no real problem with), while Morrison just kept doing what he wanted with the whole Batman saga - admittedly, details changed, but nothing on par with the Carlie "Isn't she the best oops wait you all hate her theybrokeupyaaaaayyyy!" Cooper stuff.

It's not just Octo-Spidey I'm referring to here, it's the difference between a considered, interesting new take on a character and "let's throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks as long as it isn't MJ". I like Slott (Human Torch/Spidey was a great series) but at the moment he's nowhere near Morrison when it comes to laying clues, following through with narrative promise, or developing character.

Is the last page of Flash really going to be Reverse-Flash's New52 look? I could deal with the Rogue redesigns, but that....oh wow. That is the most god damn hideous looking thing that I have ever seen.

You are seriously overestimating the importance of Batman Inc if you think it's comparable to Watchmen.

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Oh, lord no. I'm simply saying that if they don't have respect for the Watchmen--a well loved COMPLETE story, why would they have respect for Morrison's wishes?

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There are valid reasons to dislike the idea and/or execution of Before Watchmen, but I will fight anyone who bases their objection around ideas of "respect" for Alan Moore and his work. Moore has based a large part of his career around doing things with other people's characters and stories that their original creators would never have approved of – as, I might add, was his intention with Watchmen before DC editorial realized it rendered their newly obtained characters unusable – so taking Watchmen and changing and adding things is absolutely fair play as far as matters of "respect" are concerned.

You are seriously overestimating the importance of Batman Inc if you think it's comparable to Watchmen.

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Oh, lord no. I'm simply saying that if they don't have respect for the Watchmen--a well loved COMPLETE story, why would they have respect for Morrison's wishes?

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There are valid reasons to dislike the idea and/or execution of Before Watchmen, but I will fight anyone who bases their objection around ideas of "respect" for Alan Moore and his work. Moore has based a large part of his career around doing things with other people's characters and stories that their original creators would never have approved of – as, I might add, was his intention with Watchmen before DC editorial realized it rendered their newly obtained characters unusable – so taking Watchmen and changing and adding things is absolutely fair play as far as matters of "respect" are concerned.

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Yet the reality is: Paul Levitz never went forward with any further Watchman material out of respect for Moore. Once he was out, others felt differently.

Which will happen with Damien. Currently people might respect Morrison's wishes, but that will change. That's the point I'm making. Not trying to get into an Alan Moore discussion.